She Never Knew It
by Littlebit422
Summary: Who exactly is 15 year old Aubrey Cook? And how does she play a role into the Rangers lives? Just a story I came up with. Hope y'all like it!
1. Chapter 1

He was talking to her but she wasn't listening. She had tuned him out 15 minutes ago. She was in her own head now, like she liked to be. In her head, she didn't get arrested for shop lifting. In her head, she wasn't stuck in some half-assed home with 6 other kids ran by some old lady, using them for the state's money. And more importantly, in her head, she wasn't stuck in this tiny courtroom with 5 other people, while the judge determined her sentence.

She looked around the room. It was all very bland and boring, just like this hearing. She learned at an early age not to depend on anybody and watching her state appointed lawyer type away on his phone, proved her right. He didn't care about what happened to her, just like everyone else in her life. She looked over at the lady sitting at the other desk in front of the judge. She wasn't exactly sure who or what part she had in this little charade, but she must be against her, sitting on that side. She sized her up. Blonde women, maybe in her 30's and pretty. Another thing she noticed about her was that she was pregnant. She was very, very pregnant. The lady caught her staring at her and gave her a small smile before turning to the judge.

At this time, she decided to tune back into the conversation right when the judge asked, "Mrs. Cahill-Walker, I believe the reason you are here is because you don't think Miss Cook deserves to be sent to a juvenile detention facility?" _Interesting,_ she thought. "That's true, your honor," she said as she stood up. I don't think juvie is going to help Aubrey, in fact, I think it's going to make matters worse". "Hmm. Enlighten me with your suggestion," the judge unenthusiastically asked. "Okay well, I run the 'Help Our People Excel' Center or the 'Hope' Center. I think she'll be a great asset there," she explained. "You mean like community service?" the judge asked. "More or less. She would be there helping out and also be staying out of trouble," Mrs. Cahill stated her case. _Uh this lady is crazy if she thinks I'm doing free labor,_ Aubrey thought angrily.

"I like it. Looks like you got yourself a new helper. This court hereby releases Miss Cook under your center's authority for the next 3 months. This is your only chance, so I expect you to make the best of it. Case dismissed," the judge clarified as he banged the gavel and got up to leave. "Thank you judge Garrison," Mrs. Cahill said relieved almost, as she packed up her things and headed over to Aubrey. "Hello Aubrey. My name is Alex Cahill-Walker. I am so happy to have you come to the Hope center," Alex introduced herself and extended her right hand. Aubrey considered ignoring her, but she found this whole situation kind of interesting, instead she shook it lightly. "Alright. I'll give all the information to your mother and I'll see you on Monday," Alex said as she turned to leave. "She's _not_ my mother," Aubrey finally spoke, coldly. Alex turned around just in time to see the hurt in Aubrey's eyes that quickly turned to anger. "Right. Mrs. Grady then," Alex slowly said. Aubrey shook her head and stormed off past her. _Great_, Alex thought. Should have known that she was in someone else's care. Something had happened to this girl and Alex was determined to find out what it was. Whether Aubrey liked it or not, she cared. And she wanted Aubrey to know that, even if she didn't believe it now.


	2. Chapter 2

Alex had been sitting in her office all morning, thinking about Aubrey. There was something about this girl but she couldn't put her finger on what _that_ something was. It was Monday and Aubrey was to report to the Hope Center after she got out of school at 2:30pm. Alex was going to head up there at 2:45pm to meet her at 3pm. She looked at her clock. It read _2:15pm._ She sighed. _This is ridiculous! I'm not getting any work done, _she thought. She packed up her things and headed out of her office and down to see her husband, Walker. He would help pass the time until she had to leave.

She entered the Ranger Headquarters and spotted her husband, sitting at his desk, doing paperwork. She walked over to his desk and sat at an empty chair in front of him. "Hi sweetheart. How are you?" she asked. "Hey Alex. Just catching up on paperwork. Having double of it due to Trivette being on his honeymoon," Walker answered as he pointed over to Trivette's empty desk. "Oh that's right. He and Erica get back on Wednesday don't they?" Alex remembered. "Yeah. That's right. Trivette comes back in on Thursday. But I'm sure that's not the reason you are down here. Why are you heading out so early? Walker asked as he put his pen down and sat back in his chair. "You know me too well," She smiled at him. "I'm heading over to the Hope Center. Today is Aubrey's first day and I want to show her around." "Oh that's right. She's the girl you've been talking about all weekend?" Walker cracked at her. "That would be the one. I just have a feeling she needs my help and I have to go on that feeling," Alex explained. "I completely understand Alex. She's lucky to have you wanting to help," Walker replied. "And I think I'm the only one too," Alex answered back sadly as she looked down at her watch. "Alright, I better go now. No telling how long it's going to take me to get to my car. I'll see you at home". She got up and gave her husband a quick kiss and waddled out of the office, off to her car.

Alex finally made it to the Hope Center with 10 minutes to spare. As she got out of her car, her phone rang. She looked at the phone confused. "Hey Syd, I thought you and Gage were at a doctor's appointment?" "Yeah Alex we are. I need a favor. This lady with an appointment before us, just went into labor meaning our appointment is going to run late. Is there any way you can pick up Chris for us and we can get him from your house?" Syd asked panicking. "No problem Syd. Just calm down. Don't want to have that baby right then and there!" Alex laughed at her friend. "I know. Gage keeps telling me to breathe. I just don't want Chris to freak out and think we forgot about him!" Syd answered back sounding relieved. "That's what husbands are for. And I'm sure he'll think it's an adventure, coming home with us. I'm here anyway meeting a new girl who's going to be helping us out for awhile." Alex told her. "Wait. Is she a volunteer or is she doing community service?" Syd curiously asked. "Eh. Depends on how you look at it. Listen I'll talk to you later when you come pick up Chris. Stay calm!" Alex ended the conversation as she made her way up to the front door. Any minute, Aubrey would be showing up and she was determined to find out what this girl was so angry about. And how she could help her.


	3. Chapter 3

Aubrey held onto her backpack straps tightly as she looked up at the building. It was more a house than anything. Basically it was right outside a neighborhood. It was a nice little place and it looked very comfy and inviting. But she was drawn in two different directions. Part of her wanted to go in and be happy and have fun. But the other was telling her that nothing was ever going to change and she was always going to be an unhappy person. She didn't know any other way to be. She could act the part but it wasn't going to change anything in the end. And she couldn't figure out why this lady wanted to her to be here. Why did she care anyways? She didn't know anything about Aubrey and she wanted to help her? Aubrey was confused but she didn't want to get her hopes up, like she seemed to do every time she was placed in another, what seemed to be a nice, normal foster home. Then that hope was dashed when she'd find out that each and every house was like the last, but worse. It just wasn't even worth it anymore to hope for some good in her life. It was just too hard.

She was forced to ride a bus to the address Mrs. Cahill had given Mrs. Grady. The bus dropped her off a couple of blocks away from the Hope Center and as she stood at the end of the sidewalk, still staring at the building, she looked at her watch. She was 5 minutes late. She sighed, looked at the direction she came from and then back at the Center, and then walked up towards the door. She opened the door and took a deep breath. There was a receptionist type desk on her right and she walked up to it. A black lady that looked to be in her late 40's, sat behind the desk. She looked up from her paperwork at Aubrey. "Um, I'm Aubrey. I was sent here by Mrs. Cahill?" Aubrey told her questioningly. "Yeah and you're late. You were supposed to be here 5 minutes ago!" the lady barked at her. "Yeah well I'll tell the bus driver to move a little bit faster next time, ok?" Aubrey shot back sarcastically. "Excuse me?" the lady responded back with attitude. Before Aubrey could give her attitude back, a voice popped up from behind her. "Hey Aubrey. Glad to see you made it!" Alex responded cheerfully. Aubrey swung around to face Alex. "Yea, it was a no brainer," she countered timidly. "Good. I'm glad. Ok and if you want to go ahead and come with me, I'll give you a tour of the place!" Alex told her with a smile.

About 30 minutes later, Alex ended the tour outside, where more than 20 kids were playing on the playground set. "And this is where a lot of the kids end up after school. Most of them are out here until their parents come. We stay open until 6:30pm to give parents enough time to get here to pick their kids up," Alex explained as Aubrey took in the site. All the kids seemed to be laughing and running around. _Must be nice to be a kid, _she thought. "So basically y'all are a nonprofit daycare?" Aubrey questioned. "Well I guess you could say that," Alex answered a little taken back. "Most of these kids have nowhere else to go and their parents can't afford daycare. We'd rather them be here, with people to watch them, than to be out doing God knows what," she finished. _Hmm. Least she actually knows what she's talking about. _"I think I know more about that than you do," Aubrey mocked her. Alex sighed. "Hey I want you to meet someone. Follow me," Alex informed Aubrey as she headed back inside. Aubrey shrugged her shoulder and followed her.

After making their way back inside they came back upon a door Alex had earlier described as the room with all the toddlers. Alex opened the door and led her into the room. Chaos was running the room. Kids were everywhere, toys where everywhere and there was a mixture of laughing and crying echoing throughout the room. Kids ranging from infants to toddlers filled the room, with only 5 or 6 adults. It was like hell was breaking lose! "This is the most popular room," Alex practically screamed at Aubrey to be heard over the noise. "This is where we need your help at". Aubrey hesitated but she didn't retaliate. She was actually going to enjoy this. This room was way too loud to think about anything. To worry nonstop. Here she was going to watch little kids, with no worry, run around and just _be _kids.

"Mommy!" A little girl around 4 came running up to Alex full speed. "Hey, sweetie!" Alex exclaimed as she propped down to eye level with the girl and received a massive hug from her. Aubrey smiled. It was cute. And so was this little girl. She had intense blue eyes and long curled blonde hair. She looked a lot like Alex. "Angela, this is Aubrey. She is going to be playing with you and your friends every afternoon! Isn't that exciting?" Alex informed Angela as she winked at Aubrey. Aubrey looked at the little girl, at Alex, then back at Angela. "Nice to meet you Angela. Could I play with you?" Aubrey smiled at Angela. "Well I'm playing with Chris, but he won't care if you come with us. He is my best friend after all!" Angela exclaimed as she took Aubrey's hand and led her over to a doe eyed boy, a little smaller than her. He was playing with action figures intensely. Alex took this as her cue to leave the room. It was nearly 4pm and she needed to fill out some paper work in the office before making her way home by close.

After a little over an hour later, Alex made her way back over to the room she had left Aubrey in. As she walked in, the room was much calmer. 4 other kids where left along with Angela and Chris. She spotted them in a corner of the room, still with Aubrey. She stood watching them. They were working on structuring a tower with building blocks. Angela placed a block on top of the tipping tower and it all came falling down. All three started laughing uncontrollably. Alex couldn't help but laugh herself. At that time she was spotted by Aubrey and she stopped. _And here I thought she was going to warm up to me. _Alex thought disappointingly. "Hey guys! Sounds like y'all have been having fun!" Alex covered up her disappointment quickly. "Loads! I like her Mommy!" Angela exclaimed. "Well I'm glad y'all had fun. Okay it's time to go home so let's pick up the toys and go home. Chris your riding home with us tonight okay?" Alex told him as Angela and Aubrey scrambled to pick up the toys. "But why?" Chris asked with a puckered lip. "Your mommy and daddy are at a doctor's appointment so you and Angela get to play some more. They're going to come pick you up from our house," Alex explained to the sad boy. Aubrey eyed the little boy. "It's okay Chris. Remember what I said earlier and you'll be fine," Aubrey reminded Chris. Alex eyed her suspiciously but didn't say anything. Chris shyly smiled at Aubrey.

After packing up there things, Alex, Aubrey and both toddlers walked out into the parking lot. "Bye, Angela and Chris! I'll see y'all tomorrow afternoon okay?" Aubrey said as she waved at the pair. "Bye," both shouted in union as she shut the door and turned to Alex. "I heard you did really well today. I'm glad you seemed to enjoy yourself as well as being such a good entertainer," Alex told her. "Didn't really have a choice did I?" Aubrey stubbornly told her as she turned to leave. "Listen Aubrey, you always have a choice. You _chose_ to come today. You hesitated but you still made the decision to come in," Alex told her. Aubrey froze. _She saw me outside? _Aubrey thought with nervousness. "And for the record, I think you made the right decision. Like it or not, I want _you_ here. And I want to help you," Alex admitted. "Well I don't need help! Not from anyone or _you_!" Aubrey angrily exclaimed as she stormed off towards the bus stop. She knew deep down that none of the things she said were true but she didn't know what else to say. How was she supposed to accept help from someone when she's never been offered it before? How was she supposed to know someone actually cared?


End file.
